


we could be heroes

by coldcoffees



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Family, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Season 5 AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:26:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26558893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coldcoffees/pseuds/coldcoffees
Summary: When she thinks about it now, she knows she could have stopped her. She wouldn’t have been able to change Nora’s mind and make her drop the plan, no. But she could have knocked her out and bound her powers again so it would stop her from going back in time and mess up the entire timeline. She would have preserved it; despite all the horrible things in it. Of course, Nora would have been mad but she would have understood eventually.But the truth was that a part of her -less rational, less heroic- had wanted to help Nora. This part had pushed her; made her work day and night studying every single file from StarLabs or The Flash Museum she had found. This part had worked very hard. This part wanted Nora to change this fucking timeline. This part wanted chaos.Or, when Nora West-Allen goes back in time to save her family  she has a strong meta-team behind her.Changing the past to save the future is never easy; you never know what kind of messed up events you're going to create along the way.
Relationships: & else, Barry Allen/Caitlin Snow, Barry Allen/Iris West
Comments: 1
Kudos: 19





	1. prologue. rewind

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't been writing a lot lately. It was really difficult. But for some reason I started rewatching The Flash again (I had stopped at season 5 because I didn't like how they handled Cicada and Nora's story). I watched the finale & some of Season 6 episode (CRISIS) but that's it. 
> 
> this story is then completely AU, so some of the stuff (if not everything) will not follow the show :) my version of what happens after season 4.
> 
> english is not my first language so if you find some mistakes along the way, I'm sorry!

The night is quiet. Outside, nothing breaks the silence and the sky is so clear that the light from the stars is almost blinding them. She knows that these stars are so far away that some of them are actually just burned rocks. As long as she can remember, she’s always loved watching the stars. There is an unstoppable fascinating side in observing something that perished millions of years ago. 

The night is calm but behind the silence, a monster -scarier than everything they ever faced before- is whispering. Between thousands of atoms, sliding through dozens of molecules the tension is rising. Fear and pain are mixed together, inseparable. Anxiety twists their stomachs and in their heart are echoing all their worst nightmares. Every beat is like a punch in the throat.

Outside, something is hunting them. Time, space. And soon -yes soon- the darkness will find them.

And they can’t escape it.

In the middle of this dark night, the young woman stands still, staring at some imaginary point in the empty street. Despite the cold, she does not shiver. The silence is heavy and yet, so natural. If she allows her mind to fly down the memory road; just for one second, just before her world starts to burst into flames, she can smell the scent of chocolate waffles floating in the kitchen. She can see her mother humming old songs, a warm and kind smile on her lips. Just for one second, she becomes this little girl again; innocent and loved. The memories are fuzzy, unclear -they are really old- but the feelings are the same. A chill that has nothing to do with the cold temperature goes up and down her spine. Now everything is cold. The smile turned into an icy smirk. 

Everything is dead.

Suddenly, she feels a blast of energy behind her. She doesn’t need to turn around to know who it is.

“I’m ready.”

The voice is shaking but seems determined.

“Are you sure about this?”

Eventually, she turns around and Nora West-Allen, lit with a streetlight, nods. She is wearing her mother’s leather jacket; the one with purple sleeves, and her chocolate brown eyes are filled with doubts and insecurities.

But her look doesn’t flinch.

“This sucks” she can’t help but share her worries out loud once again, “this a bad idea.”  
“You already said that” Nora sighs and passes her fingers through her brown hair. The stress and fatigue accumulated all those last few days seem to hit her all at once and suddenly she looks much older than she really is.  
“And I say it again.”  
“You don’t have to help me Dawn.”

Dawn smiles and takes a few steps towards Nora who, despite her determination, feels a knot in her stomach at the idea of being alone in all this. She needs her.

“Of course I do.”

Nora relaxes immediately.

“Does he know?” asks Dawn after a moment of silence.

Again, Nora nods and Dawn takes a few more steps. Her mind is going wild with all the thoughts and she can’t stop it. She knows that there are thousands of parameters that can take them down; she knows that there are an infinite number of scenarios that can throw their plan off the rails. A plan that is not just risky but dangerous. For Nora. For her. For the entire universe.

“Please don’t look at me like that” Nora sighs and Dawn frowns  
“Like what?”  
“You know, with the we have the universe’s destiny in our hands and it may destroy thousands of lives if the plan fails’ look”  
“You can see all that in my look?” Dawn smirks but her heart doesn’t follow “I can’t help it” she continues, more serious “I have a bad feeling about this. We can’t trust him.”  
“I know” answers Nora with a sigh.  
“So tell me please, why are you listening to him like he is some kind of messiah?” Dawn feels her voice shaking and the anger starting to grow in her chest so she tries her best to calm down before her powers have the chance to take over.

Breathe Dawn. Now it’s not the time to let everything get out.

“He is the only one that can help us.”

Dawn shakes her head.

“No actually. He is not helping us Nora. He’s not doing this for you. The only one he’s ever helped is himself. So, all this; everything we’re doing has to benefit him one way or another.”  
“I don’t want to fight again with you Dawn. We’ve already been there. You’re blinded by your anger but it’s the only way.”

Dawn bites her lip, unsure about what to say. She doesn’t want to hurt Nora but she can’t let her head right into a wall.

“I know what it’s like to grow up with everyone lying to you Nora” she tries to control her voice so that it won’t shake but she know that Nora can feel the rush of emotion in her words “I know what it’s like to grow up feeling different, grow up without knowing who we really are and where we are from. And when finally someone comes to bring us all the answers; everything we always wanted, we want to believe him and trust him.”  
“Dawn” a spark of pain flashes into Nora’s eyes but Dawn doesn’t let her continue.

Nora needs to hear this.

“I know how much you’ve suffered to grow up without your father. I do know what this pain is like. And yes you’re probably right. A part of me may be blinded by my anger. But you… you are blinded by your hope Nora.”

Dawn stops abruptly. She knows how much Nora felt betrayed when she discovered how her mother had kept her real identity a secret all these years and -in Nora’s words- stolen her life. Although Dawn can understand what pushed Iris West-Allen to hide the truth, twenty years ago (she reacted by pure emotional instinct; a mother’s fear can be stronger than everything and Iris as a mom, had to protect her child no matter what), when she learned the whole story, Dawn sided with Nora without any second thoughts. Not only because Nora is her friend -her best friend- but really because she does know this feeling of having something inside oneself -something oppressive, exciting, intoxicating- waiting to go out and explode to finally feel like living. She knows how it’s like to grow up without parents, grow up with a hole in the chest that nothing will never replace.

She knows how betrayal tastes like better than anyone.

Nora nods and takes a few more steps so she can take Dawn’s hand. 

“You’re probably right, but it doesn’t matter. We don’t have a choice. If we want to save them.”

When Dawn thinks about it now, she knows she could have stopped her. She wouldn’t have been able to change Nora’s mind and make her drop the plan, no. But she could have knocked her out and bound her powers again; so it would stop her from going back in time and mess up the entire timeline. She would have preserved it; despite all the horrible things in it. Of course, Nora would have been mad but she would have understood eventually.

But the truth was that a part of her -less rational, less heroic- had wanted to help Nora. This part had pushed Dawn; made her work day and night studying old files from Star Labs and the Flash museum she had found. This part had worked very hard. This part wanted Nora to change this fucking timeline. This part wanted chaos.

This part was dangerous; Dawn knew it too well.

Unfortunately, restraining this part all these years only allowed it to get stronger. Now this part; cold and hard, always ignoring her brain’s protests and following instinct against logic, was controlling Dawn’s life. This part was the one that felt before anything else. It was full, intense, loyal. At any costs. 

Because of that part, Dawn sent Nora West-Allen back in time, on a cold night of december, without any assurance of return.


	2. time jump

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm definitively not the most constant person ever but I'm trying to be better at it x)
> 
> like always, this is an AU and I'm just trying to imagine the story through an other angle. English is not my mother tongue so sorry for any mistakes!
> 
> (there is some bad language in this)

_2049, Central City._

_One, two, three. Breathe._

_One, two, three._

_You’ve got this._

Hand on the door handle, the young girl counts at the rhythm of her breathing, trying to calm her beating heart. It’s the same thing every time she comes near this door. She has sweaty palms, her knees are shaking and her throat goes dry. Her heart rate increases so fast she thinks she is having a heart attack, she feels sick, wants to scream and cry. Even after all this time, she can’t help it but fear what’s on the other side. 

And she hates it.

_Breathe. You’re safe. He can’t hurt you. You’re not that little girl anymore._

Her body relaxes a bit, almost convinced by her inside speech and she opens the door in one violent push, before she can chicken out. The room is dark but her eyes get quickly used to it. She spent most of the last months in this cave; she knows every corner of it. She knows where to look.

“It looks like you didn’t convince her after all” the voice, calm and composed, raises in the silence and she fights her body’s reflex to not shiver.

 _Breathe_.

“Indeed” she takes a step closer, slowly, still counting in her head to try to calm her mind.

_One, two, three._

When she finally steps in the light, his face -or at least the one he stole so many years ago- appears. Upright posture and smirk on his lips, Eobard Thawne looks completely comfortable -completely _powerful-_ despite the electromagnetic field of the cage all around him. Even stuck in a cell, he still keeps his arrogant impudence ; as if he had all the answers to every question she’s ever been asking. 

Even stuck in a cell, he’s still scaring the hell out of her.

 _Well, you know what to do to stop being scared right?_ her inner voice is mocking her and she shakes her head to stay focused on the man in front of her. 

“It was a lost cause. Nora is as stubborn as her father.”

The girl frowns and finally stops her little walk to stand right in front of him.

“I’m sorry Dawn.”

She can’t help but laugh. All of the sudden, the situation seems silly. Him faking altruism. _Like he cares._ Her pretending to believe it. _Like she doesn’t mind._

“You can still stop her. But you already know that right?” Thawne keeps talking with a little smile right at the corner of his lips “you could stop everything right here, right now. You have enough strength, enough power in you for that. But the truth is, deep inside, you don’t want to. I know you Dawn. Screw the timeline. The Speed Force. Deep down, you too want to change history.”

Dawn stays silent. There is nothing else to say. He’s right. As usual. 

“You too would like a chance to grow up with your parents.”

“Stop.” she interrupts him because she doesn’t want him to get inside her head and mess with her brain like he always does “you don’t know anything about me. Or anything about what I want.”

Thawne’s smile grows bigger and he leans forward.

“You’re wrong. I know more about you than anybody else. Trust me.”

Dawn forces herself to not step back but she can’t stop her heart from beating faster.

_Control yourself._

“Are you sure she’ll be fast enough?” she asks, trying to prevent the anxiety from taking control of her body. She must not start to play his twisted game “she’s only training for a few weeks.”

Thawne steps back and nods.

“She will. She’s Barry Allen’s daughter” there is a wicked smile on his lips when he pronounces the speedster’s name that makes Dawn shiver but she ignores it. 

_Well, she is doing her best._

“Even The Flash had to train longer and harder to control time travels” her voice is surprisingly calm and cold; the exact opposite of what she really feels on the inside “I read all the archives in StarLabs. I know how much time and work Team Flash put in training Barry Allen. Nora has control over her speed only for six months. What if she can’t go back far enough in time? What if she ends up being stuck in a past we know nothing about?” Dawn masses her temples; all those scenarios she’s imaging make her brain hurt “all those variables that we can’t control… we need more time.”

“It’s impossible” he raises his voice and Dawn challenges him with her green eyes “I don’t have much more time. And neither do you.”

She frowns.

“Me? What is that supposed to mean?”

Thawne ignores her question and moves forward once more, eyes serious and shining; just like if he’s about to confess something. 

“Nora can do it. Just like her dad did it before. Do you know why? Because she has a team too. She has people who believe in her.”

Dawn opens her mouth to reply when a burst of wind shakes her, making her honey hair fly in all directions. In a nanosecond, Nora appears in front of her, hands in her pockets. Her gaze deviates on Thawne for a second and then returns to Dawn. If she seems to note the tension in the air, she makes no comment about it. 

She is used to it.

"It's time" Thawne takes his eyes off Dawn to address Nora "are you ready?" 

Nora nods her head, without letting go of Dawn's eyes, who sighs dryly and turns her heels. She suddenly needs to explode and she shouldn't do it here. 

_Well she shouldn’t do it anywhere really._

“I need some air.”

"Dawn?"

She ignores Nora and sprints to the exit. She has just enough time to hear Thawne's voice one last time (" _Leave it, she'll get over it. Focus on your mission_ ") before she slams the door ferociously. Suddenly, she feels the cold invade her. It's both painful and extremely pleasant. Each time, she feels like she is being reborn. She feels stronger, more powerful, more dangerous. 

Less broken.

Nora is blind if she believes that Eobard Thawne expects nothing in return. Dawn knows how manipulative and dangerous he can be. So many people have already paid the price for that mistake.

_Like this entire city. Like The Flash._

_Like her mother._

A sudden burst of anger seizes her and the ground freezes under her feet. Then rage takes over everything else and her body radiates ice and in a few seconds the room is crystallized everywhere. 

The cold is taking control of her body and mind. _Well, it’s about fucking time._

Everytime Dawn lets her powers take over, she thinks about the first time it happened. She was eleven, locked in the school’s bathroom doors frozen, body shaking and mind freaked out. She already knew something was different about her. She had felt cold come over her at times, but never before had it been so strong. The power, the fear, the anger. 

It had all been too intense.

After that everything had been blurry for a little; and even now she remembers perfectly the blinding blue light and the way Vibe had appeared in the middle of the room, impressive in his black costume that she had seen so many times on TV but never in real life. He had pulled her by the arm and taken her with him in the big blue halo of the breach he had just created. 

The second after, she was in a dusty, dimly lit room. Vibe had turned towards her, his expression was indecipherable under his dark glasses but she had seen him shudder.

"Dawn?"

Nora's voice interrupts her thoughts. She doesn’t seem surprised to see her in this state, rather worried. Dawn can always tell when Nora is worried or scared or sad. She has this look on her face, the same as her mother.

"Is everything all right?"

"Things are as smoothly as they're supposed to be Nora" her icy voice echoes in the air, meaner than usual.

She is always meaner when she is ice.

“Don’t you see that everything is going according to the _plan_?” Dawn laughs “everything is perfect Nora. Chill out.”

She shoots her a wicked smile and Nora shivers. 

_It is really freaking cold._

“Are you going to make a scene again?” the young West-Allen says as she takes a seat on the old desk, letting her legs hang. 

“Again?” Dawn frowns “ ** _I_** didn’t get my chance to make a scene babe. Actually, it’s been a long time since I didn’t get to make any scene at all”

“Damn it. I always forget how confusing it is to talk with you.” Nora sighs dramatically 

Dawn burst out of laughing but it’s a different kind of laugh. Colder. Crueler. Crazier. 

“Come on Baby Flash, you have to admit, I’m funnier” she takes a step forward and Nora can feel the air around her crystallize “And cooler.”

Another wicked smile.

“You forgot humbler” Nora rolls her eyes but she is not annoyed, not really.

She knows that it’s still Dawn -her best friend- she has in front of her. Just a different version, a darkest side. It’s confusing but not scary. This icy Dawn has the same sparkle of fire in her crystal blue eyes. Nora can still catch it, no matter how different she looks and sounds. 

“So” Dawn drops next to Nora on the desk and the young speedster feels the Speedforce is her body cells vibrating, a spontaneous reaction against the cold breeze “are you ready for your little vacation? The clock is ticking. Hope your mentor did his job and spilled out all his dirty little secrets.”

“Thawne is not my mentor” Nora grunts but Dawn’s smile grows even bigger “he is just teaching me how to use my power because nobody else would do it.”

“Oh yeah? Remind me who’s fault is that?” 

Nora shoots her a death glare.

“Thawne may not have killed your father but only because he didn't have time. He would have, eventually” Dawn shrugs “I’m just saying. Bad guys like him are always looking at the bigger picture. They never change.”

Nora stays silent. She is tired of defending her choices over and over again. Tired of defending him. She has a plan and it’s going to work. It has to.

“Man, it’s so cool to finally be free!” sighs Dawn while cracking her fingers “I think I’m going to have some fun tonight.”

_Ice is beating fire._

“Should you though?” Nora asks, staring at her best friend, brown eyes as curious as anxious, “aren’t you supposed to not use your powers?” 

“Like hell I won’t”

“I thought it was dangerous” Nora frowns “ **you** said it was dangerous.”

Dawn’s lips stretched into a smile. 

“What can I say, I like danger.”

“Dawn.”

“Nora.”

Nora shakes her head. She doesn’t want to let it go but she knows she doesn't have the time or the energy to argue. 

“What? Am I supposed to stay locked in the dark the rest of my life?” Dawn sighs “I’m done doing that.”

She turns her face to Nora, a slight but yet visible wince on her lips. 

“Are you ready?”

_And fire is beating ice._

“Yes” Nora is sure of herself, for once “I just hope I won’t mess anything up.”

“Just stay cool. If someone begins to be too suspicious play the dad’s card” Dawn looks away for a second “and then play the mom’s card.”

“What if they figure everything out?”

Dawn snorted.

“Flash will be pissed for sure. But they’ll get it, eventually.”

“Even about Thawne?” Nora asks, trembling in her voice for the first time of the night, twisting her fingers because no matter how much she defends him and how much she actually sees him as a mentor he remains her main concern “do you think they’ll forgive me?”

Dawn doesn’t say anything because really, what is there to say? 

“I don’t know” she says eventually because Nora is waiting for something, anything. 

“Will you?” Nora looks at her, curious.

Pieces of memories flash in Dawn’s mind as she clenches her fists to fight them with rage and cold. 

“No”

_Ice beats fire._

#

_Don’t worry._

_Everything is going to be fine._

Nora is running. She is running as fast as she can, but her thoughts are following. 

_It’s a good plan._

It’s true. She is prepared. This mission is all she’s been thinking about for the past six months, since she discovered her powers. She worked hard, she studied, she trained. She can do this. The plan is solid, so is she. 

_Is she though?_

She has to stay focused. She has to get out of the Speedforce at the right time, to be exactly where she is supposed to be. It’s tricky, Thawne warned her, but she is capable. 

He believes in her. 

_Does he?_

Dawn’s words are stuck in her head. _Thawn may not have killed your father but only because he didn’t have time._ She can’t think about it. Nothing of the past matters. She’ll make sure to create a new one. One where The Flash hasn’t abandoned the city.

One where Barry Allen hasn’t abandoned her. 

She speeds up, time flashing in front of her eyes. Different years, different moments, different earths. She has to focus right on where she wants to go and draw strength from her powers. 

They’re going to be okay. She is not abandoning anyone. She will come back and everything will be better. 

_Will it?_

She won’t mess up.

_Won’t you?_

She’ll save the future, she’ll save Central City.

She’ll save her family. 

Body vibrating with all the lightning she has in her, Nora enters the breach in the Speedforce, jumping right in 2019.

#

Time is a line. It keeps on flowing until something disrupts it. Something _unpredictable_ and _unnatural_ that shatters the line and messes with the flow. 

Changing the past never just changes the future.

The line becomes dual and eventually breaks in two. The flow changes its colour, the rhythm speeds up or slows down. The air is different. The faces are still the same but relationships burst into flames. Fade away or grow stronger.

New lines bring new disruptive elements, creating different new lines. New colours, new music. 

Until everything blows up. 

“We should have waited. We sent her there too soon.”

“Agreed” Dawn shoots her head up, cold eyes and hard voice, “but could you please stop going back and forth? It’s annoying.”

The footsteps stop abruptly. 

“We should call her back. I’ll get a speedster and breach them here.”

“No.”

Dawn rolls her eyes. Even buried in ice and indifference, she still feels the knot in her stomach when she hears Thawne speaks. 

“Time isn’t on our side. Nora had to go back in time and meet her parents. And yours.”

“Dad is going to freak out. He hates time travels.” 

“Apparently that’s the point Tyler” Dawn smirks “but don’t worry, it’s no big deal. We have God here that is making sure that everything goes according to the plan, right?”

Her eyes are brighter than ever when she looks back at him. From the other side of the glass, Thawne smiles.

“Time travels are tricky but they can be manipulated. Speedsters can do it” and he has a weird look on his face while he looks at her and she can’t help but think he is one step ahead of them, like always.

“Time travels are messy” says Tyler from the other side of the room -he hates being too close- “it’s messing with people lives”

“Well you don’t get it Tyler. You see, running around with superspeed allows you to play God and wreck everything.”

Tyler shivers. 

“Time travel is our only way to save this city from Cicada”

“You don’t care about saving the city” Dawn shouts at the Speedster

In her anger, she bangs her hand the little desk next to the cell which turns almost immediately into ice.

 _She is furious._ Tyler winces but that doesn't seem to impress Thawne.

“You should be careful with your powers. They will kill you one day.”

Dawn laughs.

“Says who? You?” she takes a step closer just because she likes seeing him imprisoned while she is free “sorry but I don’t trust a thing from you.”

Dawn feels dizzy. Her head is spinning and there is a weight on her chest that oppresses her. _She feels weak_. 

_Fucking Eobard Thawne._

“You should. And you will.” 

Thawne takes a look at the clock hanging on the wall. She also loves looking at that clock. _Sixty minutes_.

“We’re running out of time.”

Dawn and Tyler exchange a look. Time is a line until something -someone- unpredictable and unnatural runs into it. Their line has already changed. Their reality is about to shatter in millions of pieces.

They just don’t know how much yet. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leave some comments or messages or anything if you liked it : )


End file.
